In Another Weather by Mel issa Cowper-Smith\, open from September 18\, 2026 through October 9\, 2026 .
\nDates subject to change due to artist availability\, please call to confirm if considering visiting toward the end of a show.
\n \nArtist Statement:
\nThis body of work comes fr
om years of finding my process. Each piece begins with handmade cotton pap
er\, and materials gathered close to home &mdash\; pieces of my garden\, d
ried plants\, scraps of an old summer dress\, sometimes a feather or a but
terfly wing &mdash\; are embedded directly into the paper itself. Onto tha
t surface I build up layers of gouache paint\, pigment print\, and beeswax
. The brushy\, dripping quality of the paint and the fine detail of the pi
gment prints come from very different processes\, but together they read a
s one surface\, one image &mdash\; the way a memory folds separate moments
into a single impression. I want these images to feel like a dream\, an a
ltered
world\, seen through haze\, or smoke\, or a windowpane.
I
n Another Weather is about the way things shift. Everything changes\, alwa
ys &mdash\; but there are moments when we feel it happening\, when a place
is at once familiar and already slipping out of reach\, when the present
starts becoming memory before we've finished living it. These paintings tr
y to hold onto that instant: the memory of land\, of place\, of the garden
s I've tended and the places I've traveled to and left behind.
There'
s something about being caught inside a moment of sunlight &mdash\; light
and color so vivid it hardly seems real &mdash\; that I keep returning to
in this work. The beauty of a plant in its season\, a particular bloom\, a
particular hour of light. But even at their most vivid\, these paintings
never quite sit in the present tense. They hold that vividness and a sense
of memory at the same time &mdash\; as if the moment is still happening a
nd already gone\, seen and remembered in the same breath.
Artist Bio:
\nMelissa Cowper-Smith (b. 1979) is a
painter and mixed-media artist known for evocative\, layered depictions of
landscape\, memory\, and the passage of time. Born and raised in Alberta\
, Canada\, she received a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Vict
oria before moving to New York City in 2002 to complete a Master of Fine A
rt at Hunter College.
Since settling in Morrilton\, Arkansas in 2011\
, Cowper-Smith has drawn material and inspiration from the surrounding lan
dscape and from the eight-acre farm and garden she and her family cultivat
e. Nearly every piece she makes begins with handmade cotton paper\, into w
hich she embeds plants\, dried flowers\, and other materials gathered clos
e to home\, then builds up in layers of gouache paint\, pigment print\, an
d beeswax. Loose\, gestural paint and finely detailed printed imagery come
together on the page as a single surface &mdash\; an approach that echoes
how memory itself holds a place: vivid in fragments\, hazy at the edges.<
br />Cowper-Smith's honors include an Individual Artists Fellowship from t
he Arkansas Arts Council\, an Artists Scholarship from the Arkansas Commit
tee of the National Museum for Women in the Arts\, and an Executive Direct
or's Scholarship from Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Her work has been exhibi
ted at the Arkansas Arts Center and the Historic Arkansas Museum\, and she
is represented by M2 Gallery.